


Arctic Starfish

by mothergoose



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Beach Time fun, M/M, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-18
Updated: 2014-07-18
Packaged: 2018-02-09 08:31:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1976124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mothergoose/pseuds/mothergoose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cecil and Carlos enjoy a day at the beach. Cecil doesn't know how to swim. Carlos uses that to his advantage.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Arctic Starfish

“Cecil! C’mon! The water’s warm and the pH is 7.8 today! Perfect!” 

Carlos ran swiftly up the beach slope, closing in on the rainbow umbrella that marked where Cecil lay. The radio host himself was propped up in a pink and white striped lawn chair, watching Carlos over the rims of his sunglasses. He smiled softly as his boyfriend came to a halt on the green blanket laid on the sand but shook his head. 

“No, I’m quite content here, my dear Carlos. Just me and John Green.” Cecil tapped the book in his lap. Carlos frowned at that. 

He asked, “Is that the one with the girl that has cancer?” 

Cecil sniffed. “No, that one’s too sad. This is his new one 'Don’t Touch That. I Said Don’t Touch That. Now Your Hand Is One Fire. What Did I Tell You?'” He settled himself into his chair more, lifting his glasses to the top of his head. “It’s a thrilling mystery.”

“As thrilling as going swimming with me?” Carlos wiggled his eyebrows and shifted his feet on the hot sand. It was beginning to hurt. The lavender eyed man gazed past him and warily studied the ocean before averting his gaze back up to his boyfriend. Sighing, Cecil put his bookmark back into the novel and took Carlos’ offered hand. 

As they walked down to the water, Cecil quickly stated, “I’m just going to put my feet in. As much as a I love swimming.” Carlos stared at him as they stepped into the warm water. Noticing the look, Cecil backpedaled, “I mean I love to swim. Who doesn’t love to swim? Me, certainly.” 

Carlos crossed his arms, a light entering his eyes. The radio host knew that look as something along the lines of ‘I’ve just solved a problem with something I thought’. In response, he just made an odd face at the latino man and stepped back a bit. Smile turning triumphant, Carlos pointed at him and exclaimed, “You don’t know how to swim!”

“What? No, I totally- What is swimming Carlos? Is it not the immersion of oneself into a body of water?” Cecil gestured widely, eyes flitting to and fro, pointedly not looking at Carlos. “Is it not the master of man over nature in accordance with his domineering and power hungry struggle with planet Earth? Honestly, as a human being, I should know what mastery-Hey!”

The scientist, totally ignoring Cecil, babbled, “Of course with you living in the desert it makes perfect sense that you wouldn’t know how. It really is fun Cecil and the water is really warm.” Taking his boyfriend’s hand, Carlos tried tugging Cecil deeper into the water, who then dug his toes into the sand, refusing to move. Carlos tried again, wheedling, “C’mon, it’ll be a little experiment. I’ll get to see you in the ocean and you can hold onto me the whoooolllee time.” Cecil looked thoughtfully at their conjoined hands and lifted his left hand to chew absently at his fingernails. There was silence between them for a few heartbeats before Cecil broke it.  
“I can hold onto you the whole time?”

“”Uh huh.”

“And you won’t let go? At all?”

“Uh uh.”

“And you’ll bring me back in if I don’t like it?”

Carlos smiled and crossed his forefinger over his heart. 

“Cross my heart and hope to die”.

Cecil frowned at him and scolded, “Carlos, that’s a serious oath, don’t use it lightly.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

The waves rolled over their feet in a soft, soothing rhythm. It did feel nice, Cecil mused. A devious smile settled onto the Night Valian's face, as he shimmied up to Carlos, pecking him on the nose. “Well, if a big strong man will hold me, how can I say no?” 

Slowly, they made their way into the dark blue water, squishing shells and sand with their bare feet. The hot sun and the cool water made for a pleasant combination that both men enjoyed and Carlos found himself terribly happy to have Cecil’s hand in his, here on this lovely beach. He was glad they’d both managed to get away for a weekend to… wherever this beach was. He still didn’t know. Perhaps he could squeeze in a few measurements and tests while Cecil was in the shower later.

As they edged closer to the sandbar, Carlos warned Cecil about the deep water ahead and suggested that he hold on. Cecil threaded his arms behind Carlos’ head, fingers lacing together tightly, and Carlos wound his arms around the host’s waist. 

“Ready?” Carlos asked, his chin resting on Cecil’s shoulder. He felt Cecil smile before a rumbled, “Ready!” answered his question. He kicked off into the deep water and immediately felt Cecil tense up around him like cobra. Carlos just laughed and ran his thumb is tiny circles over his boyfriend’s hip. 

After some light teasing, they just floated in the water, Carlos treading gently and propelling them here and there. Slowly, Cecil relaxed until he was content to just have his hands around the back of Carlos’ neck as opposed to his arms. The two chatted about little things like where to go eat that night or anything interesting that they had seen on the car ride up. Every so often, a piece of seaweed would brush past the backs of Carlos’ thighs or a seagull would scream overhead. It was rather peaceful and calming. 

It was in this calm that Carlos was struck with a terrible idea that he knew he totally had to do. By nature, Carlos was not a trickster. Some jokes he didn’t get, others he thought were kinda dumb. Cecil, on the other hand, had a deep love of tricking, a fact that Carlos has only recently discovered. Once he sent Carlos to Neil O’Tooly, the sole mortician in Night Vale, for a proper body bag for their toaster. When asked why, Carlos had learned that no, in Night Vale when a kitchen appliance dies, you do not need to give a proper burial in order to avoid the wrath of the other mourning appliances. The scientist had not been amused to hear Cecil’s deep, booming laughter at such a trick. 

So as the two floated in the water, Carlos pretended to jump a little. “Whoa! What was that?” Cecil stopped mid-sentence, drawing closer to Carlos’ chest.

He glanced nervously around the water. “What? What happened?”

It took all of Carlos’ willpower not to smile and burst into laughter. He, too, pretended to search the water. “Something just swam by me. It felt… kinda big.” He turned his attention back to Cecil, who was staring at him with wide eyes. “Didn’t you mention something about Arctic Starfish this time of year?” 

Cecil went bug-eyed. “Arctic Starfish?! Here?!” Carlos nodded gravely before gasping loudly, kicking his feet hard.

“Cecil! It’s got me! It’s got my foot! Help!” The grip on his neck was suddenly very tight. “Oh no! We’re going under!” Cecil shrieked before Carlos dunked them both under the cool water. In less than a two seconds, they popped back up to the surface. Cecil was sheet white and shouting, “OH MY GOD!” over and over again. The moment he saw Cecil’s stricken, wide-eyed face, Carlos lost it and exploded to huge bouts of laughter. Gaping like a fish, Cecil could only stare at him. 

Tears running down his face, Carlos crowed, “I got you! I finally got you!” The radio host’s face darkened dramatically and Carlos found that funny too. “Now I know why you trick me all the time!” His laughter was interrupted by a splash of water and Cecil’s flailing hands. His boyfriend, while still wrapped Carlos like his life depended on it, began slapping the scientist’s back with one hand. 

Carlos coughed as Cecil raged, “I COULD HAVE DIED AND I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD, I HATE YOU!” By this point, several people and sentient beings had stopped to stare at the raging radio host and hysterical scientist floating in the ocean and Carlos was beginning to calm down. Letting loose some last second giggles, he started swimming around with the fuming Night Valian. He pressed a wet kiss to Cecil’s cheek and Cecil just glared at him. “That wasn’t funny.” 

“It was a little mean.” Carlos admitted, but let a smile spread across his face. “But you trick me all the time! Consider this payback.” Cecil just huffed in response, glancing longingly back at the beach. Grin still in place, Carlos swam back to the sandbar and deposited his boyfriend. He still found it funny when Cecil started storming back up the beach to their towels and couldn’t help but call, “Cecil! Ce-Ce!”

Whipping around on his heel, hair falling in his face, Cecil sighed, “What!?”

Carlos grinned like a madman. “I luvvvvv you!”

Another sigh from Cecil but at least he reluctantly blew Carlos a kiss. Carlos smiled again. Yes, he was very happy.

**Author's Note:**

> Carlos does get Cecil to go back in the water but Cecil makes him pinkie promise not to pull anything, haha. 
> 
> This is my first ever fic posted on here and I haven't really written for this fandom, so please do tell me if Cecil and Carlos are at least some what in character! I thrive on comments, so please leave one if you can! Thank you for reading! -Goose


End file.
